Others News
- China reports record-high lottery sales in 2006
Date: 10-Jan-2007 Sources: (Xinhua Online)
The sale of China Welfare Lottery, the only national lottery approved by the Chinese government, hit a record high of 49.5 billion yuan (6.2 billion U.S. dollars) in 2006, up 20 percent from the previous year.
About 17.1 billion yuan were raised from the sale of the lottery, said the China Welfare Lottery Management Center, an organization under the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
Half of the money has been turned over to the coffer of the central government. The remaining fund were used for social welfare purposes, mainly going to the social security fund to fill its deficit.
The Ministry of Civil Affairs itself got a chunk of 700 million yuan (87.5 million U.S. dollars), which were spent on the building of orphans' houses as well as houses for poor elders in rural areas.
Funds were also earmarked for local welfare programs.
Last year, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region used 1.6 million yuan (0.2 million U.S. dollars) of lottery proceeds to help 400 poor students continue their studies.
China's east coastal Zhejiang Province allocated 79.2 million yuan (9.9 million U.S. dollars) to 138 welfare projects, including support for old folk's homes.
China launched its first lottery in June 1987. Lottery ticket sales are one of the major sources of funds for building community sports facilities and financing the country's social welfare programs.
Despite the robust growth in lottery sales over recent years, the center said the penetration of lottery in China is still low.
As in 2006, China's per capita lottery sale accounts for only 0.663 percent of the per capita pure income, which is equivalent only to 1-2 percent of the world average.
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